Cindy Pearson, National Women’s Health Network’s Executive Director, and a strong advocate for close review of drug safety, has responded to the concerns, saying:

The most heartbreaking part of the Vanity Fair article are the accounts of women who never knew that the contraceptive ring delivered a higher dose of hormones and is slightly more risky than pills. No clinician should offer women these products without fully disclosing the risks, and encouraging women to try alternative, safer forms of contraception if they haven’t already done so.14

Agreed. While the risk to an individual woman may be low with any of these birth control methods, women must be informed that some options — including the ring, the patch, and the drospirenone-containing pills — may be more risky than older combined oral contraceptive pills. And, health care providers need to stay on top of the evidence so that they can actively discuss the benefits and risks of all options with the women they see. All women should have the information they need to make the best choices for their own health.